Isn't it Ironic
by Helen Cly
Summary: Iliana muses over love, irony, and the end of the world.


**Title:** Isn't it Ironic 1/1   
**Author:** Sobia  
**Email:** AphroditeH@aol.com  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Based on:** NW: Witchlight  
**Spoilers:** Witchlight  
**Summary:** Iliana muses over love, irony, and the end of the world.  
**Disclaimers:** Everything that goes with the NW belongs to L. J. Smith.  
**Dedications: **To Aria, Wren, and Chris for beta-ing this fic. You guys rock! Thank you. :)  
**Note:** Iliana POV.  
  
~*~  
  
_"Keller and I are tied together, and we always will be." _~ Iliana, Witchlight  
  
I knew it from the start. Knew that we were connected; Keller and I. There was just this aura around her, this energy that radiated from miles away and drew people in.  
  
She turned my life upside down and I couldn't even bring myself to *dislike* her. She frightened me and that only intrigued me more. She represented a different world, a world full of possibilities.   
  
As I child, I had always loved fairy tales. But then again, what child doesn't? I guess, I was just a little more obsessed than others. I *believed* in fairy tales, but at the same time knew that they weren't real.   
  
Keller, for me, was the personification of every beautiful fantasy creature. She was magical, wondrous, and just amazing. I always found it curious how she insisted that there were no fairy tale happy-endings. Didn't she know what she represented to me?   
  
Of course, now I wonder if things would have turned out differently had I believed her when she told me that.   
  
~*~  
  
I didn't realize the extend of my feelings for Keller until much later.   
  
It was the morning after Jamie's accident, and I had slight fever, so I had stayed home from school. Before then, I had not given any thought to the time when Keller and the others would eventually leave, but now I was convinced that I wasn't the Witch Child. And it was only a matter of time until she realized it too.   
  
I was more upset over having disappointed her than at the fact that I was not a Wild Power...after all, I didn't really know what a Wild Power was. Sick, upset, and disappointed...I definitely was not up for breakfast with everyone else. So I had chosen to skip it.   
  
Since I didn't have anything better to do, I took out Jamie's and Brett's birthday gifts and some gift wrapping paper. I had gotten Jamie a crystal figurine of Artemis...she liked to collect statues of mythological figures. And for Brett, I had picked an elaborate picture frame, and had put in a picture of us together that had been taken at the homecoming dance. Looking at the picture now, I reconsidered my choice of that particular gift.   
  
There was a knock on the door, and in the next second, Keller stuck her head inside the door, "We are getting ready to look over the dragon scrolls. You coming?" Her tone made the last sound more like a command than a question. She didn't expect me to argue.  
  
I nodded, "In a minute. Let me get this done." I gestured to the presents lying on the bed.   
  
Keller opened the door fully and came in, closing the door behind her. "Here, I'll do it. You have that cut hand," she said, sitting down opposite me on the bed.  
  
I started to protest, but thought better of it. My hand did hurt.   
  
She picked up the little statue and reached for the white gift paper.   
  
"So, when is your birthday?" I asked, watching her as she wrapped the paper around the figure.   
  
She didn't look up. "I don't have one," she stated flatly.  
  
"You can't just not have one," I insisted. "So what is it?"  
  
She paused in her task and glanced at me for a second, "I don't know my birthdate."  
  
She looked back down and resumed her activity. I could tell she didn't want to talk about it, so I just pressed my earlier question, "Well, but still...you should like...pick one. Everyone should have a birthday."  
  
"That is so..." She started.  
  
"That is not dumb," I said before she could finish her sentence, realizing that that's what she was going to say.   
  
She looked up at me, startled. Then she smiled, and I was completely mesmerized. Her whole face transformed. Her features--normally drawn and alert--relaxed and softened, giving her an almost angelic look. And her eyes lit up, giving them this eerie, alien glow, but at the same time making her seem more human, vulnerable.   
  
That was when I knew that I was in love with her.   
  
I found myself staring at her upturned lips; they were full and seemed to fit in perfectly with the rest of her features. She looked up at me as she put away the now wrapped gift, and I found myself leaning towards her. Maybe she was startled, or maybe she just didn't know what I was doing, but she didn't back away, and soon my lips were pressed against hers, my right hand moving to her shoulder as I placed my left one on her knee. I kissed her lightly, hesitating at first, and I felt her body go tense. But then she relaxed and I deepened the kiss, closing my eyes. She opened her mouth and that was all the cue I needed. Her lips were soft and felt slightly cold, but not unpleasant at all.   
  
I moved my hand from her shoulder to her hair, while hers caressed my cheek, her other hand covering mine on her knee. Then someone moved, and the gift paper crunched. Keller pulled away instantly, staring at me with a bewildered look. She brought her hand to her lips and touched them lightly, as if she was unable to believe what had just happened.  
  
"I...I...," I started.  
  
"I don't know...," she said at the same time, but stopped when she realized that I was talking too. She looked at me, waiting for me to finish.  
  
Except that I didn't know what to say. Finally, I said, "I'm so sorry, Keller!"   
  
I was feeling anything but sorry about what had happened, but that didn't matter. Judging from Keller's expression, that was obviously a mistake, so I went on. "I don't know where that came from." Then I brought my hand to my forehead and touched it lightly. I made an exaggerated gesture, "It must be the fever...it's getting to my head."   
  
Keller nodded, and seemed satisfied with the explanation for now. She stood up. "Finish those up and come outside," she said and walked out the door.   
  
I crumbled up all the gift paper and put away the presents. After a while, I left my room, but I refused to join them all at the kitchen table. Instead, I stayed and watched TV in the family room, but my mind was on anything but the TV.   
  
I finally went to join them when Galen asked me for my opinion about the Jamie incident. Keller acted as if nothing had happened, but she seemed a little more drawn than usual. So, before the day was over, I ended up promising myself to Galen, hoping that that would put Keller at ease. And it helped that she truly thought that I was in love with Galen.  
  
And I did love Galen...but it was more because I was *supposed* to love him than anything else. Galen seemed to like me too. Of course I didn't know that he was in love with Keller then.   
  
~*~  
  
The next three days passed without anything major happening, and then it was Solstice night. That's when I found out about Galen and Keller.   
  
After I had killed the dragon, I went to Galen, to wake him up. Winnie already had Keller covered. As I tried using my newfound powers to wake him up, we had a moment of connection. It was like...I was in his mind. And that's when I saw it, saw that Keller loved him. That they were soulmates. The events of the last few days all fell in place then as that single detail came to light.  
  
That of course meant that I couldn't marry Galen; Keller was in love with him. So I gave him up...to her, for her.   
I saved the world from ending that night, but mine ended regardless.   
  
Funny how these things turn out sometimes...  


~End~  



End file.
